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Basically, I'm just interested what people think the best way to tool out your Prism is. Holofields? No Holofields? Stones? I know some like to put Star engines on them. That leads me to believe they all serve a different purpose in different lists, which makes me a happy panda cos that's just the way I like it.

Even so, I'd like to hear people's thoughts on these lovely tanks. How do you field them and why?

I like the holofields... its a steal of an upgrade really. I dont like stones myself but some people swear by them... I however sit in the 'serpent spam' camp, thus I would rather take 1 extra serpent than put stones on the rest of the 10ish vees.

I'd take them naked. This saves a lot of points and even with holofield, almost each hit will result in non-shooting.

wuestenfux, agreed it is a lot of points for the fields. However, without them they are the easiest vees to kill, as serpents energy fields keep them safer than the prism. The prism is good for catching missile launchers for multiple turns keeping the rest of the vees safe.

Now, if you dont spam wave serpents, then perhaps shaving points from the fields is useful.

Prisms are 72", if you are getting hit by tons of long range AT then you are doing something wrong.
I take mine without any upgrades

Simple rule for fielding fire prisms.
Have You taken 3?
Have you points to spare to take a holofield on each?
Is this the best place to spend all those points? (no extra Wave Serpents? how about bulk out the DA? ect ect)

If you can answer yes to all of those then take the holofield. If not then run them bear but be smart and help them get a cover save (jet bikes are good for this since they can move in the assault phase)

I am planning to use them naked. (ie they will have no upgrades, not that I will be using them while naked . . )

I can see how holofields would be a good buy. Spirit stones not so much, it's a pure shooting tank, and I think the other big aspect of stones (allow you to move flat out to get a cover save and to avoid assault) should be made mostly unecessary by the prism's extreme range - there should never be anything too close to it anyway. Star engines are just a silly choice on a tank that will ideally shoot each turn. If you want them, they're obviously going to go on a wave serpent first.

Holofields are expensive but they can certainly help mitigate the fact that they are only AV 12 without energy fields. Stones can save you as you can at least flat out to get some cover that turn.

To be honest, though I have seen them talked up a lot, I have never been impressed with Fire Prisms. I've seen them be a nice annoyance, but they are so many points for one shot once you start linking. Go 3x units of 3x Warwalkers (2 units of 2x scatter lasers, 1 unit of 2x missile launchers). So much bang for the buck. If they are guided they will literally remove a unit a turn from shooting. The only downside is real life money $$$

I think you should just run Fire Prisms naked.

Holofields do increase survivability but if you get hit you have a lower chance of being destroyed but a higher chance of losing your gun which still puts you out of action unless you want to try and ram.

Price of 3 holofields just about pays for another wave serpent.

Spirit Stones are only important if you are delivering an assault unit or fire dragons where you need to get there asap and being stunned would be a big deal.

Prisms are GREAT! As are Nightspinners.

There is a good argument for naked or with just fields. I don't think you need anything else though.

I go always with the fields. They DRAMATICALLY reduce the damage you take.

A pen with no fields = 1/3 chance of a dead tank. 1/6 chance of no more gun.

A pen with fields = 1/9 chance of a dead tank, 5/36 (call it 1/6) chance of no gun.

The thing to remember when using Prisms is that they are also great at contesting objectives. If that gun gets destroyed they can still be very useful.

They have massive range but with the amount of deep striking, out flanking and mobile, long range AT out there now, you can't always count on the range game to save your tank.

I would say go just h.fields, but honestly, play test them both and see what works best for you.

Either way, take at least two prisms if you take any. They are a great tank.

JGrand wrote:To be honest, though I have seen them talked up a lot, I have never been impressed with Fire Prisms. I've seen them be a nice annoyance, but they are so many points for one shot once you start linking.

Should be pointed out that two small blasts is normally better then one TL-Large Blast. Only in Apocalypse do you get rules where combining the beam is worthwhile.

Should be pointed out that two small blasts is normally better then one TL-Large Blast. Only in Apocalypse do you get rules where combining the beam is worthwhile.

Against MEQ the twin linked large blast can be pretty nice. The problem is the abundance of cover and the fact that your 250 points worth of 2 vehicles is mustering up a single battlecannon-esque shot.

The problem with holofields, particularly on prisms is that they don't change the odds of the prism being suppressed (so unable to shoot that turn) much and they don't change the odds of anything vs AP1 much.

Doing the math myself, so some possibility of error here...

Odds of supression without and with fields:
vs penetrating hit 0.833 0.861 (trivially worse!)
vs glance 0.5 0.417
vs ap1 penetrating 0.833 0.806

They do roughly half the odds of getting permanent damage from ap 2+ penetrations and glances so they soak more shots before being put down, but it is a lot of points for that. Enough that with two prisms you could often get another unit instead and have that soak the extra shots without being as easy to suppress.

Falcon's do better as they have more good guns (so are harder to fully suppress) and are often also keeping a davu or something alive within themselves.

First Eldar tank I bought was a Falcon. Absolutely loved how it performed, so went and bought another one. Turned out they were great. But now I'm trying them out as Prisms(proxying the exactly same chasis with slightly different turret isn't something anyone would frown on) because I feel my planned list benefits more from it.

The Star Engines were the Fritz's from Way of Saim-hann thing. He puts Spirit stones + SE on them and contests objectives 5+ turns. He does that with his every tank though.

For that reason alone, I think Spirit stones are worth it, though I'm not convinced on the SE. In my list I wouldn't use them.

Holofield Prisms in my mind are great not just because there's a lower chance to destroy the tank, it's also because they become much durable fire magnets. If the opponent shoots a lascannon in it and pens but only manages to get a crew shaken result, it's safe bet he'll shoot the Prism next turn as well. If it was weapon destroyed/Wrecked/Exploded, that's one less target for them to worry about.

And in the kind of list that I run, with few bodies, I need that resilience. I need my Avenger Serpents to shoot their TL Brightlances and transport troops. I need my War walkers to rain fire down on any infantry on the table. I need my oponnent's AT guns focused on my tanks, so my Warp Spiders can benefit from their 3+ save. I need my Prisms to stay alive and if possible, shoot.

The way I made my list, it's more about having to deal with a fast and diverse army, than it is about spamming too much of the same kind of unit for them to wipe them all. So I think I'd definitely go with Holofields, if not Spirit stones.

But I just wanted to hear people's opinions, it's the best way to broaden your perspective on the usefulness of certain unit.

Reecius wrote:Prisms are GREAT! As are Nightspinners.

There is a good argument for naked or with just fields. I don't think you need anything else though.

I go always with the fields. They DRAMATICALLY reduce the damage you take.

A pen with no fields = 1/3 chance of a dead tank. 1/6 chance of no more gun.

A pen with fields = 1/9 chance of a dead tank, 5/36 (call it 1/6) chance of no gun.

The thing to remember when using Prisms is that they are also great at contesting objectives. If that gun gets destroyed they can still be very useful.

They have massive range but with the amount of deep striking, out flanking and mobile, long range AT out there now, you can't always count on the range game to save your tank.

I would say go just h.fields, but honestly, play test them both and see what works best for you.

Either way, take at least two prisms if you take any. They are a great tank.

While I agree with how good prisms are and how useful holofields are. I don't really like nightspinners. They just don't seem to do much in my experiences.

I can see that. In our local meta we have a lot of bugs, light mech and a terror of a foot ork player. Against those types of targets, the night spinner rocks. Against heavier mech and MEQ's, it may not be the best buy.

In a fully Mech Eldar list, I would run two prisms and one spinner with only h.fields. That covers your bases against all comers.

With your other slots you can fill the gaps in your list.

Ive also found this combination of Night spinner + Prism pair to be the most effective use of the precious Heavy support slot in an Eldar army

As Reecius said I do face a large number of Ork players and the occasional Nid swarm army

it all depends on the environment you're playing in